It may seem strange for a plant to flower at the beginning of February, but that’s what this plant likes. Its leafless stems are covered with a profusion of strange greenish flowers that somebody thought looked like a Dutchman’s pipe. I suppose if they have to look like something, other than what they really are, that’s an okay analogy.
Later in the year, the plant will leaf out and the flowers will transform into long green seed pods. Once they’ve grown out, the leaves will hopefully be devoured by hordes of ravenous pipevine swallowtail caterpillars.
If you think the flowers are strange, the caterpillars are even stranger. Black, with orange Godzilla-like protuberances down their backs and bright yellow stink horns that appear if you bother them. The butterflies are iridescent blue-black beauties with orange markings on the undersides of their hind wings.
Last year was the first year we had caterpillars. It took them five years to find the plant! Since we’re not that close to the butterflies native riparian habitat, they’re not already in the area looking for plants.
Perhaps if everybody would reserve a space in their garden for this plant we would have a lot more of these interesting butterflies. While they were at it, they could reserve some space for milkweeds, so we could have more monarchs, too.
Just bought one of these at the soon-to-be-closed Escondido branch of Las Pilitas!
Be patient – ours took a few years to bloom. Unless there are already pipevine swallowtails in the area, they may not find the vines. Sad to hear that Las Pilitas is closing – but at least there’s Tree of Life not too far away.